Archive for September 3rd, 2018

3 September 2018 – USA issues “sanctions”–legalese for punishment–when they dislike somebody else. Sometimes it works: somebody else adjusts the behavior to suit the USA. And sometimes it does not: “somebody else” hits back with new sanctions or tariffs for tariffs. Or cuts trade with USA.

Johan Galtung

Right now US sanctions have been issued against Iran and those who trade with Iran. A gap opened between USA and EU over sanctions, EU favoring keeping the agreements with Iran. Could be a deep gap.

What could USA have done, what would have been a better US policy?

Instead of sanctions = punishment and something that looks like a trade-war, the opposite: rewards, better terms of trade, trade-peace. However, there is a problem, and a major one: trade vs self-reliance.

3 September 2018 (UN Environment)* – When Trin Gim first started her biogas digester business, she raised many eyebrows. In the little district of Ung Hoa, located south of Viet Nam’s capital, Hanoi, villagers were not accustomed to seeing a woman take the reins of a business.

An estimated 300 million families who rely on small ruminants, such as sheep and goats, as a source of food and income are at risk of losing their livelihoods and may be forced to migrate, particularly in areas where food insecurity, other resource shortages or crises already exist.

In truth, these women embody the remarkable spirit and courage of every Palestinian woman living under Israeli Occupation and siege in the West Bank and Gaza.

Relatives of Palestinian Sadi Muamar, who was killed by Israeli troops during a protest at the Israel-Gaza border, mourn during his funeral in the southern Gaza Strip. | Photo: Reuters | Photo from teleSUR.

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28 August 2018 (teleSUR)*— Hanan al-Khoudari resorted to Facebook in a cry for help when Israeli authorities rejected her request to accompany her three-year-old son, Louay, to his chemotherapy treatment in East Jerusalem.

2 September 2018 – Condemning the escalation of violence in and around the Libyan capital, Tripoli, United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres has called on all parties to immediately cease hostilities and grant humanitarian relief to those in need.

UNHCR/Tarik Argaz | After receiving threats and many houses being demolished by a local militia, Tawergha displaced people desperately pack their belongings to leave the Triq al Matar settlement in Libya. 10 August 2018.

In a statement issued by his spokesperson, UN Secretary-General Guterres raised particular alarm over the use of indiscriminate shelling by armed groups leading to the death and injury of civilians, including children.

“We regret the United States’ decision to provide no further funding to UNRWA, which provides essential services to Palestine refugees and contributes to stability in the region,” Stéphane Dujarric, the spokesperson for the UN Secretary-General, on 31 August 2018 said in a statement.